Memory
by Hyper Chef
Summary: What happens when we lose our dearest memories? What happens, to those we've forgotten? Shounen-ai KxArk Summary inside.


Ta da! Here's my second short story. Hope you all like it. It took me a few hours to type this up and I think the ending is sad. cry Please R & R

All standard disclaimers apply.

Warning: Joke-claimer. Sadness, not so happy ending.

Disclaimer: Bwahahaha! The rich and powerful me has taken over Gravitation! Bow to me! They're all mine! YEEAAHH! (note, this is total crap. )

Summary: Claud and Ark are mercenaries on a mission to sabotage an enemy base. When Ark gets captured, Claud will risk anything to get him back safe, including his own mind.

Memory

Dear Claud,

Hi honey, it's mom. How's your time at the military going? I hope you like it there. Your father pulled a lot of strings to get you a good position. Did it work? This has been your dream since you were very little. We're all so proud of you. You'd better be behaving there. I don't want you to get sent home because of a stupid thing like disobeying orders. By the way, tell your little friend, what was his name? that I say hi. I think his name was Lark, but I don't remember. Oh, we have a surprise for you when you return. Do you remember that time four years ago when we went to Washington? At the ball, there was a girl who seemed to really take to you. Judy was her name. Well, we had a long talk with her parents and we've agreed. As you as you return, you'll be married. Isn't it lovely? I'm terribly afraid that I'll have to cut this short however. I think that's your brother calling. Take care, and be good.

We love you, honey,

Elaine

Claud smiled at the note. His mother was just so clueless. He didn't even remember going to Washington four years ago, much less this 'Judy' she mentioned, why would he marry her? Besides, there was another reason why he wouldn't.

"Yo, Claud!" A man jumped into the trench and sat beside him, leaning against the wall. Dirt crumbled into his wet hair, which glistened in the dim light. Water dripped off his chin and soaked into his tank. The short strands of brown hair now lay flat across his forehead, where as they usually lift into spike that catch the wind.

Like Claud, Ark was dressed in the BDU of a mercenary. Black war paint was drawn in a strip across the bridge of his nose. The scarf around his neck carried the sand of all their journeys.

"Good evening Ark. What's up?" Claud asked, folding the letter with careful precision. It mirrored the way he lived his life: calmly.

"I killed of a couple of sand scorpions that were creeping up on our water supplies." He exclaimed, scooting closer to Claud as the temperature dropped a few degrees with the fading sun. "The general say we'll be at the base by nightfall tomorrow. Then we can finish our mission and be on our way home on three weeks of leave."

"That soon huh?" Claud slipped the letter into his pocket. "That's a relief I guess."

"What's that?"

"A letter from my mother. She seems to think that I'll be marrying some girl I saw once four years ago. Completely preposterous."

"I should hope so." Ark smirked. "Or else it'd get awfully cold at night for me."

"Claud laughed and looked over at his friend. They've known each other since basic training and had somehow stayed together through every faction till now. It was no surprise that they had grown closer.

Raising his hand he brushed his fingertips over Ark's cheeks before flicking him on the nose.

"You're jealous."

Thankful it was so dark he tackled Claud. "Am not!"

They wrestled for a long moment before Claud finally straddled Ark, pinning his hands above his head. "You are. Let's get to bed, we have a mission tomorrow." He stared into Ark's eyes and laughed. "By the way, remind me to say hello to my good friend 'Lark' too."

Still they didn't move. Eventually Claud smirked and captured Ark's lips with his own.

Scene Change

Claud woke to red lights and shrill alarms almost too loud to hear. He startled to his feet and was out of the trench running with his rifle loading before ever being aware of moving. Ark was right beside his as they crouched low behind the wall. Their general kneeled in front of them, frowning.

In a low voice he spoke to the few people there. "They've gotten wind of our movements and sent out a group. New orders: destroy the group before they are aware of our movement to the other trench. You six will be the only ones there. May God help you find your way back. Go!"

As one they all saluted and dove from the wall. The six of them were mercenaries sent to complete missions like this one. The larger group would pack and move while they were distracting the enemy, and then it was up to them to find their way back. Claud led the small faction and stopped when they came upon the enemy group. Making a few signals in the air, he slipped around behind them, his teammates executing similar moves.

Ark crouched beside him and frowned. 'There are so many.' He mouthed quietly.

'I know.' Claud mouthed back. 'We'll manage.' In one swift movement he lit a fuse and threw the signal flare into the enemy's ranks. The mercenaries came out of hiding then, using the confusion to their advantage.

Claud lost sight of Ark in the smoke. His enemies were appearing out of nowhere, finally getting some order into their lines. His knife was covered in the blood of at least ten men, and that was just in the first seconds. Only a fraction of the larger group. He cut down another man before getting out his flint to light the other flare. He crouched to become a better target, lit the flare, and threw it into the sky, backpedaling so it didn't fall on him.

He turned around and suddenly faced an enemy general. The man lifted a gun to Claud's face and they both paused, sweat coating their foreheads.

"Foolish man." The general remarked. "You come into my camp. You attack my men. Then you assume to leave with your life? Nein. If I manage to do something today, it will be to cripple my enemy by destroying their strong leader."

Claud frowned, his mind working fast to think of a witty reply. Just then, an arm flew out of the smoke and connected with the general's side, the gun went off but missed Claud by several inches. He sighed, thanked his lucky stars and looked around for his ally, but he couldn't see anything in the smoke. He left before the general could get up and try to shoot him again.

Sitting in the trees after regrouping, Claud watched the enemy march back (slightly panicked) to their base. Turning around he looked over his men one at a time. "It seems they've given up. Besides, that was more than enough time for our men to move. We should head back and- where's Ark?" He looked around, but none of the other mercenaries knew whether he had followed them.

"Sir, maybe he's still back at the battle site."

Claud thought on this a moment. "Then we can only assume they took him with them. Let's get back to the trench. We'll tell the general and order the search party to move out later tonight."

"Yes sir!" They all saluted and began their long trek to find the trench.

Scene Change

"What do you mean we can't send out a search party?" Claud was beside himself. He'd been arguing this same point with his superior for an hour. "He's our comrade! We can't just leave him!"

The general frowned and set a hard look on Claud. "Winchester, calm yourself. Just because your pansy ass is overreacting, doesn't mean I don't think he's important. We have a mission to achieve, however, and I will not have this ruin it! We can return him to our trench, AFTER we defeat our enemy."

"But sir,"

"That's FINAL Claud. Now shut your mouth before I send you back home. I don't care if you ARE lovers!"

Claud shut up remarkably after that, but he didn't give up. As soon as the general's eyes were off of him, he left.

Back in the camp, after he relayed the news, he looked to two of his best mercenaries. "Kyle, Kevin."

(They are twins. Hehe)

"Yes sir?"

"Kyle, you stay here and vouch for us. Kevin, I'm going to need your help. I don't care what the general says. The colonel told us to come back alive; we'll fail if we don't get our comrade back. I'm going to get Ark!"

The mercenaries cheered. Claud packed quickly, for him and for Kevin and they set out, with four hours left until daylight.

Scene Change

The base was quiet. All the lights were out, except the watch lights, and few guards were around the area. Claud and Kevin crouched in the trees.

"I'm going in. You stay here, I'll report to you. Whatever you do, DON'T say anything unless it's an emergency. I don't want my radio alerting them."

"Yes sir."

Claud dropped down, ducked under a light, and hugged the fence. The barbed wire at the top prevented him from getting access that way. So he'd have to find another way. Running crouched along the ground, he kept his eyes open for anything. Soon enough he came up to a hole under the fence, perhaps from an animal wanting to get in or out. With a little digging, he made it big enough to crawl through. When he was in, he looked around for guards, and dashed to the wall of what he guessed was the prison. Peering around the corner, he ran a few calculations. Two guards at the door, possibly three inside. They'd never make it out without being seen.

He left the prison for a moment, heading toward a bigger building at the center of the camp. Finding a vent he crawled in.

Exiting again twenty minutes later, he held another radio on his belt next to the first one. He bag was a little heavier than before. Returning to the prison, he knocked out the guards quietly and unlocked the door with the set of leys he stole. He opened the door, grappled silently with the next two guards, looked around for more and found none. Sighing he whispered an affirmative into his radio and entered the back.

Ark was in the very last cell, sleeping. The cells were dirty, like they haven't been cleaned in years and they smelled about that bad too. Claud pulled his scarf over his mouth and unlocked the cell door with the same ring of keys. He creeped over and shook Ark awake.

At first the man thrashed, thinking it was one of the enemies, but as soon as he saw Claud he stopped. "Claud!"

"Shh.. They'll hear us. I couldn't leave you here. Now let's go, before they catch me."

Ark nodded. He stood up, face serious once more. "What's your plan?"

"Well, I'm thinking that we have a very slim chance to get out before they know we're here. My plan is to get out of the base before they catch us, then run like bats out of hell. What do you think?"

Ark smirked. "Sounds like a plan to me. Let's do it."

They stood up to leave, but as soon as they turned around, they came across a very big road blocker.

"Glad to see you again Meester Winchester. I knew you would come." The general once more had a gun pointed at Claud. He laughed. "See? I told you I would get you. I told you you couldn't escape."

Silence dropped over the mercenaries. Claud very slowly reached back to take Ark's arm. The General's finger very slowly pulled the trigger. At the last second, Claud ducked, pulling Ark with him. Crouching like that, they slipped past the general and ran. Over the second radio, they could hear him screaming at the soldiers to ready arms. The men poured out of nowhere, but luckily for them, their way out was still free.

Claud shoved Ark through first, turning around to shoot at the enemy, and then crawled through himself. More soldiers were outside and Claud took the lead, running around them. Grenades began falling near them and Ark ducked, covering his head. Claud dropped to his knees and through his own grenade. Trusting his aim, he pulled Ark to his feet and they ran once more. Kevin joined them not long after. Ten minutes of running revealed the enemies decision to not let them go.

"We're going to lead them right to the trench! That's what they're hoping!" Claud yelled at the others. Even stopping every so often to shoot or throw a grenade didn't shake off their pursuers.

"No we're not." Kevin smirked. "I called backup."

As if on cue, the other three mercenaries jumped out of dugouts in the ground, covering their comrades' retreat. Taking the unspoken command, all six branched off and turned on the small army. Knowing they were suddenly outmatched, despite their numbers, the army retreated back. Only when they were gone did the friends relax.

The newcomers and Kevin welcomed Ark back and gave Claud congratulations. They were back in the desert now, proving to be only a short hike to the trench. Claud leaned against a rocky ruin, breathing hard.

"Claud, is something wrong?" Ark asked, walking over to him.

Claud shook his head, suddenly very tired. It was only then that Ark noticed the blood.

"Claud!" It was the last thing he heard as he fell to the ground.

Scene Change

Ark paced in the hospital wing, watching over his lover. They had been sent back to the main base in a helicopter. Before they left, Claud was conscious long enough to inform the general of the radio, the bug he placed in the computers, and the bomb he set while rescuing Ark. That was two weeks ago. He learned from the doctor that Claud suffered a bullet wound to the head. He knew that it wasn't from their run; it was the bullet from the enemy general. Ark frowned guiltily every time he thought of it. If he didn't need to be rescued, Claud wouldn't have gotten hurt.

The doctor came out from the other room. Ark looked to him hopefully. "He will recover. He finally woke up." Ark smiled in relief. "However, the wound he received gave him minor brain damage. It is possible that he'll have slight amnesia. We do not know what the other side effects may be. He may never recover completely from it. He is awake now, if you would like to talk to him."

Ark nodded silently and was admitted in. Claud was sitting in the bed with bandaged around his head, his hair up in a topknot ponytail. In his hands was a rubrics cube. He was solving it rather quickly too. "Hey." He said, barely getting it out. Would Claud remember him?

Claud looked up at the sound of his voice. His eyes were a little too childish. But he smiled as soon as he saw the nervous man. "Ark! You're here! Are you all right? You didn't get hit did you?"

Ark sighed in relief. "No, I didn't Claud."

"Claud... hm... you know something. That names sounds so stuck up."

Ark gave him a look. "W..what?"

"I don't like it anymore. I want you to call me something else. I want everyone to call me something else."

"Like.. what?"

"Hmmm." Claud thought about it for a long moment. "K! I want to be called K. My study partner in High School, Zoe, used to call me that. Then my brother picked it up."

"K...?"

"Mmmhm. The general came in today too. Earlier, right before you did actually. He told me I get a medal, for rescuing you, and still getting the mission completed. You know something. My mom wrote me a letter. It was the one before we went on our mission, remember that?"

"Yeah." Ark was sitting now, wondering if this total change of attitude was a side effect.

Claud went back to finishing the cube. "Mother wants me to get married. To Judy. I met her four years ago. She was pretty nice. She says it'll be good for both of our families. I don't exactly love her, I only met her once. But what's good for us, right?"

Ark gaped at Claud. "Claud... I..."

The man pulled his gun out of nowhere, smirking. "I requested that you call me K. I'll politely ask, one more time."

Ark sweat dropped. "K..."

"Thank you." The newly renamed K smiled. "See? That wasn't so hard, now was it? Oh.. by the way. You need to meet my mom again. She thinks your name is Lark." He laughed and turned the last side of the cube. Handing it to Ark he swung out of the bed and stretched. "The doctor says I get to return home tomorrow. Come with me?"

Ark frowned sadly and kept his mouth shut. His heart shattered at the thought that Claud... no K... had forgotten about their love. What had the doctor said? Slight amnesia? Sure.. for him maybe. He smiled sarcastically.

Scene Change

A year later, K was returning home after visiting Japan. He had to tell his wife about his new job. He walked through the door of their mansion-like house. "Judy! Honey! I'm baaack!"

"About time dear!" His wife complained from the living room. "My bodyguards are awfully boring."

He walked into the room and frowned. "Well, I guess that's a good thing that I ran into an old friend on the way here. He was looking for a job. He even rivals my own skills. Maybe you would like to meet him."

"Hm.. Rivals your own? That idea has merit."

"Well, while I call him, think about this: I'm getting a job at NG corporations in Japan. They're the biggest music company in Tokyo. We'll be richer than we already are."

"That's a good thing. We need more money. Make sure this new guy is ready by tomorrow. I have a movie premiere to go to."

"Yes dear." K smirked as he picked up the phone.

The next day, Ark was facing K once more. He still hurt, but his pain made him cold. Made him hate K, even though it wasn't truly his fault. The two looked at each other. "We meet again."

"Hm.. Apparently. You take care of her all right. I don't want to come back and hurt you."

"Yes _sir_."

As Ark and K separated, K smiled sadly. He whispered into the air. "I hated to do this to you, but it was the only way, Ark. You don't know how much I miss you."

He walked away then, never looking back.

Fin

Yes, the enemy general is apparently German, and no, the generals aren't the same person. lol Any questions?

I find my own story to be sad! Poor K! Poor Ark! This is the second short story of like, two. Hehe. I'm proud that I finally got it finished. I got the idea because they'd be a really good pairing, but K is already married. . So… what do I do? Viola. I have a knack for sticking things into the original storyline that seem like they were there in the first place. Like with my Kingdom Hearts OC…. But anyway, I'll quit babbling now and let you review.

Speaking of reviews, thank you all for your reviews on my other two Gravitation stories!


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